Step 1 Bevel Set
Establishing a proper bevel set early in the sharpening process is an absolute condition for success. Failure to get the bevel set is probably one of the most common honing mistakes, and although it is not very difficult, many struggle with this aspect of the process, especially with a two bladed head or knife. The nice thing about a three blade is that the bevel is already fixed. The main reason for this, is because a cutting bevel can take different incarnations. Sharpness is limited to how cleanly both sides of a blade can meet each other and the angle at which they join. In theory, it does not matter if those sides are flat, convex, concave, or even irregular, as long as the apex is one clean line, as thin as possible. Flat bevels in a fixed angle are mandatory for successful sharpening on hones, this is why I would recommend the use of some type of guide, be it a KME, Lansky or whatever. As long as it is able to maintain a consistent angle throughout the sharpening process. A magic marker can also be used as an aid during this process. This will help you visually see if you are working the complete bevel surface during this step.
Step 2 Determing if the bevel set is sharp.
One of the major challenges in establishing a good bevel, is to know when the goal is reached. Bevel formation is finished as soon as the entire length of the passes "thumbnail test" or the shave arm hair test.
Establishing a good bevel might require the removal of a decent amount of steel. Luckily, this is something that typically needs to be done only the first time the bevel is set. A coarser hone will remove steel more rapidly than a finer hone. Ideally, the bevel should be completely formed by the time we tranverse past the 2k mark. Fail at this level and the subsequent hones will be a nice polish on the faces of your incomplete bevel, but will do nothing for the actual edge of that bevel, simply because it does not really exist yet. Thus, all you will end up with is a polished edge that is not sharp. Stay at the coarser stones until the bevel is truly set. The stategy that I use is the following: I start on a 600 grit stone, and them move up to 1000 or 1200 grit. I stay at the 1K stage until all of the 600 grit scratches are removed and the edge shaves arm hair with great ease and passes the thumbnail test along its entire length. I then finalize my work with a number of ultra light strokes on the 1k hone, I do not do the thumbnail after I have finished this, I do not want to dull the edge.
Once I have set the bevel and have achieved a sharp edge I can then progress to the polishing stages. You can really polish to any level that you would like to at this point. The one thing to keep in mind is that you are only working on polishing the edge at this point and are not working on getting the edge any sharper. Because of this care must be taken to use light soft strokes to avoid from dulling or rolling over the sharp edge that has already been created. If you feel like you are losing your sharp edge at this point you are probably pressing the edge of the blade to hard into the stone. I use a light to see if I have removed the scratch lines from the edge as I am progessing on the higher grit stones. If I am looking for a truly mirrored edge I will progress up to a 8k stone.
I use DMT diamond hones for my 600 and 800 grit stones. My 1k, 4k and 8, stones are norton water stones. All of these can usually be picked up at most wood working shops. Really exotic stones such as Nagura, Nakayama, and Thuringians can be a lot of fun but really take a lot of practice and experience. Stick with simple stones or even pieces of sand paper on a really flat surface and you can achieve great results.
Hopefully this will help out a few people, any comments are always welcome
